-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- In 1967 , the Mamas & the Papas had a hit with a song that detailed , with bittersweet harmonies , the checkered history of the band . The song , written by the group 's John Phillips and his wife , Michelle , was called `` Creeque Alley . ''

Michelle Phillips , Denny Doherty and John Phillips , here in 1998 , were members of the Mamas & the Papas .

If the song were to be updated today , it might have to be retitled `` Creep Alley . ''

With the claims by John 's daughter , Mackenzie , that she had an incestuous relationship with her father , the story of Phillips and his group -- in music , models of California dreams and California dreamin ' -- takes on a darker hue .

The story was already tangled , a motley love - and drug-soaked tale of excess set to the group 's distinctive four-part harmonies .

Phillips left his first wife , Mackenzie 's mother , Susan Adams , for 18-year-old Michelle , whom he 'd met in a San Francisco club while touring in the early '60s , according to the band 's biography on Allmusic.com .

The band 's lead male singer , Denny Doherty , later had an affair with Michelle ; she was forced out of the group for a time . The fourth member , Cass Elliot , had an unrequited crush on Doherty , the biography noted .

After the Mamas & the Papas ' success with such singles as `` California Dreamin ' '' and the No. 1 hit `` Monday , Monday , '' the Phillipses bought a Bel Air mansion from which they ruled over the Los Angeles music scene .

In his 1986 memoir , `` Papa John , '' John Phillips , who died in 2001 , remembered hosting parties for the Beatles when they visited town .

John Phillips , the band 's primary songwriter , was at least six years older than the others and did not shy from the task of addressing the group 's pain and confusion in song . In such songs as `` Got a Feelin ' , '' `` I Saw Her Again Last Night '' and `` Trip , Stumble and Fall , '' he cast a cold eye on the band 's romantic entanglements , even as his melancholy and sometimes cutting lyrics were often belied by those sunny harmonies and Lou Adler 's slick production .

`` One does n't try to hold Cass and Denny and Michelle together , '' he said in a 1995 interview . `` It 's a useless task to start with . You just sort of stay out of the way and let things roll as they can . ''

In 1968 , the group split up . There was a 1971 reunion that produced the contractually obligated album `` People Like Us , '' but the experience was `` horrible , '' John Phillips recalled in the liner notes to the group 's anthology , `` The History of the Mamas and the Papas . ''

The group members had mixed success after the breakup . Elliot , who died of a heart attack in 1974 -LRB- and not by choking on a sandwich , as urban legend has it -RRB- , pursued a solo career ; she had a handful of hits . Doherty and John Phillips also tried their hands at solo careers ; the latter 's 1970 `` John , the Wolf King of L.A. , '' produced a minor hit and is now considered a classic but sold relatively poorly upon release .

More common were the stories of trouble . Michelle and John Phillips divorced in 1970 ; late that year , Michelle was married to Dennis Hopper for eight days .

John Phillips , who married Genevieve Waite in 1972 , became increasingly immersed in drugs , says his Allmusic biography , to the point where he could n't finish an album commissioned by the Rolling Stones ' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards . In 1981 , he was convicted of drug trafficking .

By that point , daughter Mackenzie says , she was also a full-blown drug addict .

`` I grew up in a place where there were no rules ... which did not serve me well , and everybody , I think , knew that , '' she said on a reunion special for her '70s sitcom , `` One Day at a Time . ''

According to Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh 's `` The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows , '' Phillips missed the 1980-81 season while in rehab for addiction issues .

In her new book , `` High on Arrival , '' she claims she had become sexually involved with her father in 1979 , after he forced sex on her the night before she married a rock manager , Jeff Sessler . -LRB- Earlier that year , the house she shared with Sessler burned down , taking all her belongings with it . -RRB-

According to Mackenzie Phillips , the affair with her father lasted 10 years .

She told Chynna Phillips , her half-sister , about the affair in the late '90s , according to an interview with Chynna in Us magazine .

`` Somebody could have dropped a piano on my head , and I probably would n't have felt it , '' Chynna Phillips told the magazine . `` But I knew it was true . I mean , who in their right mind would make such a claim if it was n't true ? ''

She says the news sent her into `` a deep , deep sadness and depression for about 10 days . A part of me died when I found out . ''

John Phillips also underwent rehab but struggled for the rest of his life . He had a liver transplant in 1992 but was photographed drinking several months later . He toured with versions of the Mamas & the Papas , some including Mackenzie . He died in 2001 of heart failure .

Chynna Phillips and Mackenzie 's `` One Day at a Time '' co-star Valerie Bertinelli have since rallied around her . But others have not .

`` I am stunned by Mackenzie 's terrible allegations about her father , '' Waite , John Phillips ' third wife , wrote in a statement released to `` The Oprah Winfrey Show . '' Mackenzie Phillips appeared on the show Wednesday . `` I would often complain about her overly familiar attitudes towards him , and he said it was just her way . John was a good man . ... He was incapable , no matter how drunk or drugged he was , to have sexual relations with his own child . ''

And Mackenzie 's half-brother , Tamerlane , the follower of an Indian guru , is having none of it .

`` My family is and always will be a decrepit bowl of dog urine compared to Nityananda of Ganeshpuri . That is how great Nityananda is , '' he told the New York Post 's Page Six . `` Worship Nityananda , not the Phillips family . ''

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John Phillips ' reputation taking hit with claims of incest by daughter Mackenzie

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John Phillips , who died in 2001 , lived life of excess

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Mamas & Papas were leading California group of '60s , with tangled romantic links

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John Phillips was heavy drug user , once convicted of drug trafficking